


here lies love (sad as a mournful dove)

by Folle



Category: BioShock 1 & 2 (Video Games)
Genre: Atlas is Not Frank Fontaine, Atlas is Real, Fluff and Angst, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Medical Trauma, Oblivious, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Pre-Slash, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-02-29 01:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18768760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Folle/pseuds/Folle
Summary: Various (mainly Jatlas) drabbles I've written over the years.Atlas, the real Atlas that Fontaine eventually kidnaps and holds hostage, is a pining fool, and Jack is oblivious to what love is.





	1. Atlas/Jack Pre-slash: "to think it came by chance"

"Yeah, there ya go boyo, just a bit faster-"  
  
Jack bites back a moan, and goes to pull his hands away.  
  
Atlas' voice crackles over the radio. "You're almost there. Ya can't quit now, what if some splicer strolls in on you?" The man is practically cooing.  
  
He's panting, and beads of sweat are starting to form on his temple. His hands are slick with oil. Everything is hot and fuzzy.  
  
Atlas licks his lips, and his clothes rustle. "You're almost- Almost-"  
  
  
"WELCOME TO THE CIRCUS OF VALUE!"  
  
Jack rests his head against cool glass, and tugs his sweater down.


	2. Atlas/Jack Preslash: "yielding to your charms"

Wool clings to his skin like glue. He can't look down to see if it's sea water, or a coat of his own blood. His guns click when he pulls their triggers, and his veins feel dry and quiet.

Jack ducks into a room, and his chest heaves as the screaming turns to silence. He pops open the first aid kit and notices the bullets on the table. He wonders why he tries anymore.

"Boyo, when this is all over, I'm buying ya a drink. I swear it." Jack smiles while the antiseptic burns and he unrolls gauze.

That's why.


	3. Atlas/Jack Preslash: "to err is human i heard you say"

There's a warm hand on his shoulder, heavy and grounding him, and he's in heaven.

He doesn't smile though, no matter how much his face is itching to do so. The burning corpse of a woman and a child lay a meter away from their feet, and the man in front of him looks broken and stitched back together with rage.

"We're gonna find that son of a bitch Ryan and make 'im pay all hell for this." His hand is squeezing, way too tight. Tears spring from those honey eyes.

All Jack can do is nod and squeeze back.


	4. Atlas/Jack Pre-slash: "you magic spell is everywhere"

He's choking, sputtering on the all encompassing mist that has laid waste to the once dazzling and vibrant.  
  
Breathing, one coming naturally, burns. The trees are still and it bores static into his skull. Raising unrest with the white noise of his heart.  
  
Jack retches into the dry, browning grass, ADAM and all the water in the ocean spills from his lip and splashes against his oxfords. A splicer howls in the distance, begging for his lover, and more ADAM forces itself from his throat.  
  
When he catches sight of "WHO IS ATLAS?" the silence of his radio becomes deafening.


	5. Atlas/Jack Pre-slash: "your melody is in the air"

Jack isn't one much for talking. All too easy to give away his position. His throat is tattered and abused, and the muffled screams leave his hoarse, on the verge of losing his voice.  
  
On still nights, he whispers to Atlas, lips pressed close to the reciever, huddled up in some crawlspace.  
  
Sweet nothings, regaling him of his farm, and tempting him with a cushy life. He'd have to work hard, but Jack's mother like to dote.  
  
Atlas laughs, and presses his lips to the reciever in return. To him, it's a sick miming of an intimacy he cannot have.


	6. Atlas/Jack Pre-slash: "my sin was loving you"

Bedside talk was the norm for the nights Jack could salvage a sleeping quarters. It was a miracle he could, but it was a blessing when there was a close enough camera for Atlas to hack into.

Night are rough on Jack, not that he can tell day from night. Sometimes, his body is too put through the wringer to make his lips form sensible words.  
  
At times, he'll leaves the reciever on, letting his rhythmic breathing soothe Atlas' nerves.  
  
Jack mindlessly hum tunes, lips forming words that Atlas hardly catches onto, cheeks warm, heart fluttering, and dredging up shame.


	7. Atlas/Jack: "the boy in my arms wasn't you"

"Jackie, my ol' boyo," Atlas slurs, preening in the reflection of the window in front of him. "Ya know anythin' 'bout dancin'?"  
  
Jack pauses briefly in front of a hacked camera, and shrugs his shoulders. "No, not really. Any reason you ask?"  
  
"S'pose not. Been hearin' the jukeboxes through the radio. Guess I got a hankerin'."  Atlas drains the last of his merlot with a scowl, and lets it roll to the floor with the others. "Would'ja dance with an ol' sinner like me boyo? Once this is all said and done?"  
  
Jack's eyes widen, then the signal goes dark.


	8. Atlas/Jack: "trying to smile once in a while"

"Yer ignorin' me boyo," radio silence has been in effect for three hours on Jack's side. "Jus' talk ta me Jackie, fer Chris'ake! Would'ja kindly tell me what's crawled up yer ass an' died?"  
  
"You're drunk," Jack cuts in sharply. "And saying things that don't make any sense. It's making me confused and... uncomfortable." He sheepishly squirms.  
  
"Am I? Never been propositioned before boyo?" The cogs in Atlas' mind whir. "Not that I'm suggestin' anythin', ahem, unsavory. Jus' a dance is all. Whad'a'ya say?"  
  
"I don't know," Jack whispers. His voice makes Atlas' heart sink like white hot, molten lead.


	9. Atlas/Jack: "tears in my eyes"

He swears his head is throbbing more violently than it ever did before. Pain blinked behind his eyelids like sparklers.  
  
The first thing he does, of course, is drag over the radio and curls in on himself. "Boyo," he drawls, voice rough and hoarse. "you still with me?"  
  
There's a few beats of silence, and they nearly make Atlas jump out of bed to make sure Jack isn't bleeding out in some gutter somewhere.  
  
His radio crackles to life. "Yeah, I'm here," Jack croaks.  
  
"Listen, I'm sorry if I said anythin'-"  
  
"I think... I'd like to have that dance, Atlas."


	10. Atlas/Jack: "dreams that could never come true"

There's a pause in Rapture. All is quiet and still, and God if it doesn't make Atlas' skin crawl.  
  
"You have a girl?" Atlas fills the void with aimless chatter. "Up on the surface, waitin' for ya?"  
  
There's a pause. "No, other than my ma."  
  
"Handsome as sin, you are, and you ain't got a dame? Not one caught your fancy?"  
  
"No, no... There's no one," his voice is strained. "There's my ma and pa, but I can't think of anyone else."  
  
Atlas thrums his fingers on his desk. "A fella then-"  
  
"I don't think there's anyone waiting for me."


	11. Atlas/Jack: "your heart will break like mine"

"Get up boyo! What is God's green earth are you doing?!"  
  
There he is, sprawled out in the farmer's market. The only thing that assures Atlas is the rise and fall of his chest.  
  
"My leg," Jack murmurs into the reciever. "It's broken, bad. Femur snapped right in half."  
  
"Jus' get some ADAM, for Chris'ake get up Jack! Please!"  
  
"Can't, everything hurts Atlas. Everything's cold. I'll... close my eyes for- for a second. I promise."  
  
The reciever clatters to the ground, and Atlas hears Jack's last breath.  
  
For the first time in a long, long time Atlas feels truly alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all like the spam update, i think ill leave you on a sad note


	12. Atlas/Jack: "i laughed at fate"

"You've been quiet for a while Atlas. Something bothering you?"  
  
He's there, he's _there_. In the flesh, taking shots like a champ and swatting splicers down like they're flies. Absolutely nothing has changed.  
  
And Christ if that isn't the most God damned unnerving thing he's ever seen.  
  
"You, uh, remember what happened at the farmers market?" His eyes are rubbed raw and red.  
  
Jack shrugs his shoulders at the camera. "That splicer got in a lucky hit and I blacked out, then I came to in the Vita-Chamber. Why?"  
  
"N-nothin'. Would you kindly jus'... Be more careful in the future?"


	13. Atlas/Jack: "bluer than blue"

Hypocritical little bastard. That's what Jack was, a fucking rat bastard. God damn him and that fucking sweater of his.  
  
"Atlas, wha-? How come you never here? Fight with me. We could- I swear we could clean out fucking ALL of Rapture if we jus'-"  
  
Jack pauses, kicking around half a dozen liquor bottles as he shuffles to a trash bin and hurls up all that merlot and pep bars.  
  
He's a bit too far away to make out anything Jack mumbles out, but he peels out of that clunky sweater, and _God damn, eat your heart out James Dean._


	14. Atlas/Jack: "dearest pal you've ever had"

The eerie Rapture stillness that once out Atlas on edge, he decides, is now somewhat soothing.  
  
Especially when that bastard wakes up, bleary eyed, laid on top of that God awful sweater, chest bare and sporting a fair few scars.  
  
He blindly fumbles for the reciever. "Atlas? Oh, what happened? My head is killing me..."  
  
"Oh Jackie boy, I got _everythin'_ on film, so any time you want to meet up and see your wild night, you jus' let ol' Atlas know."  
  
There's a wink behind his teasing, but Jack's too busy hiding his reddening face and groaning to notice.


	15. Atlas/Jack: "there'll come a time"

Radio silence was the worst part of Atlas' day. Jack sure had gotten a helluva lot more chatty, not that he could complain.  
  
But his reciever was on, and he hadn't so much as heard a peep from his boyo.  
  
(When had he become _his_ boyo?)  
  
Through a camera, he could clearly see Jack, slumped against a wall with a growing dark blotch on his sweater.  
  
He needed to stay safe, to lead Jack, that freak of nature, through the city. He couldn't just follow through with every emotional impulse rushing through his heart.  
  
He needed to stay strong.  
  
Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lolol ill just leave yall on another cliffhanger because I stuck 
> 
> also even tho this had been a drabble only fic so far, im half tempted to do a fully fledged, no restraints one-shot of sweet, sweet Jatlas fucking. keep an eye out for that.


	16. Atlas/Jack: "light my way tonight"

Jack's limbs were filled with lead, and he had a splitting headache worse than any concussion.  
  
He tries rising on his elbows, but is thrown off by the warm, plush, and _dry_ material underneath.  
  
His eyes shoot open, and the first thing he sees is his bare chest and bandages wrapped around him, everything else covered by a quilt.  
  
Jack flails, trying to roll out of the cot, when a rough and heavy hand lands on his shoulder.  
  
"Easy now, boyo. Relax, I've gotcha, Atlas' gotcha."  
  
Just like that, with Atlas soft tone and radiating warmth, Jack drifted to sleep.


	17. Atlas/Jack: "my silent love"

The lights are dimmed, and most security cameras dimmed. It is only courteous of Atlas when he has a sleeping guest in his hidey hole.  
  
Jack is like a switch, sleeping through Atlas banging a mess with a knocks over gun, but bolting upright at the faintest whispers from splicers.  
  
Atlas places a hand on the back of his neck, and whispers: "It's okay boyo, they can't get in, don't even know we're here  
  
Jack flutters those thick eyelashes close, nodding, sighing, and reaching back to squeeze Atlas' hand, like clockwork.  
  
It is... almost domestic. Almost exactly what Atlas wants.


	18. Atlas/Jack: "little white flowers"

"Hol' still will ya? I can't right treat ya if yer squirmin' around so much."  
  
Jack sounds off a whimper, muffled into Atlas' pillow. "Hurts, feels... Weird." Stripped down to just his boxers, Jack squirmed under Atlas' firm and steady hands.  
  
Damn genetically altered bees. Jack's entire back, and even down to his thighs were covered in welts. How long had he been sitting on these? It was a miracle they hadn't gone septic yet.  
  
With the patience of a saint, Atlas sat there with tweezers and plucked out each and every one. Jack's lucky to have someone like him.


	19. Atlas/Jack: "a bolt from the blue above"

Trying to fix up Jack was like trying to patch the leaks in Rapture. Each time he think he's got the situation covered, a worse one pops up.  
  
"Laddie! You need to be tellin' me these things!" Didn't help that the bastard tells him squat. Only just got him to stop wheezing from a fractured rib, only to find his left eye couldn't see a damn thing.  
  
"I shoot fine, didn't think it mattered," he grumbles, sitting himself up.  
  
"'Course it matters! You mean the world to me Jack, and kills me every time I see you take a hit!"


	20. Atlas/Jack: "you'll go along never dreaming i care"

Priorities: Keep his distance from Jack, and make sure to not accidentally touch him.  
  
How fucking stupid could he be? To let his words slip so carelessly from his mouth?  
  
Jack sat there, staring at his lap and furrowing his eyebrows so intensely, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.  
  
God, what was he going to do now? Jack wouldn't even _look_ in his direction, wouldn't say a single word. He'd been like that for hours now, so Atlas threw himself into flicking between security monitors.  
  
Jack did mean the world to him, and that was Atlas' burden to bear.


	21. Atlas/Jack: "where the black coach of sorrow has taken you"

Just go replace the lens on the security camera outside his hideout. That's all. He left for maybe a total of ten minutes, took out a splicer or two.  
  
When he crawled back in, Jack was dressed up, weapons strapped on except his pistol. The barrel was in his mouth, and only moments after he crawled in, the boy's brains were splattered on the walls.  
  
His throat was hoarse from screaming, and his eyes red and raw. Fucking Rapture, taking fucking _everything_. Anything he cares about is ripped away, and Jack was the last fucking straw.  
  
"Atlas, are you there?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeehaw i am alive and here is a quick spam before i disappear into the void yet again. might queue up chapters, idc


End file.
